India, Jan. 7 -- Every winter, Delhi's air turns hostile. We speak of smog, of choking lungs, of emergency measures, of temporary fixes. We debate numbers on an AQI scale and brace ourselves for the next announcement - odd-even, construction bans, school closures. And yet, once the air clears marginally, so does our collective urgency.

This approach is deeply flawed.

Delhi's air pollution crisis cannot be understood or solved through a seasonal prism. It is not an episodic failure of weather or a short-term administrative lapse. It is the outcome of systemic choices in how we have planned, governed, and moved through our city over decades. If we continue to rely on bandage solutions, we will continue to suffocate, slowly but surely.

Wh...